Force India name change a possibility – Mallya

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In the round-up: Force India owner Vijay Mallya says he is considering changing the name of his Formula One team.

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With Paddy Lowe claiming that Lewis Hamilton is on the same level as Ayrton Senna, anon has noticed an interesting pattern in the common debate over the relative greatness of Formula One’s legendary drivers.

One thing that is very noticeable in surveys of whom fans and even motorsport commentators think was a great driver, quite often the drivers who do best are often the ones that hit their peak about 30 years earlier (i.e. when the respondents were probably a young child).

If you look at surveys from the early 1990’s, Clark, Gurney, Graham Hill and other drivers of the 1960’s tend to crop up quite regularly – by the time that you get to the end of that decade and into the early 2000’s, you start to see the likes of Stewart, Ickx, Fittipaldi and other drivers of the 1970’s being given greater prominence.

These days, it is the drivers of the 1980’s that how have a very high weighting in polls and other surveys – as you say, combined with the effective self promotion that occurred during his lifetime, plus the dramatic and tragic nature of his death, which would have seared those memories into the minds of viewers, and Senna becomes the talisman of the age, even though, as you say, Prost was the more successful driver.
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On this day in F1

  • Michael Schumacher won a shortened Canadian GP today in 1997 after Olivier Panis crashed badly

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Will Wood
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104 comments on “Force India name change a possibility – Mallya”

  1. Force India should change its name to Force Fugitive

    1. I.O.U Racing.

    2. Dodgy Drinks Racing

      1. The link to the Force India story just links back to this page.

      2. They already own 2 F1 teams.

    3. Extradition India Racing

    4. Force In-dire-straights

    5. Force Deportation
      Force Extradition

    6. Pink Slipping

    7. Fast IndaJail

    8. Force Jordan

    9. Good idea Forced Fugitive.

    10. Curry Racing

  2. James Coulee
    15th June 2017, 0:15

    HAM’s a driver that started so young, had winning cars every single season of his career and races almost twice as many races per season than Senna (who’s career was cut short)… It’s not really comparable.

    1. Oh not this thread again *sigh*

      1. @john-h haha, yes mate, unfortunately that what us fans are here for, debating and arguing our points!

        James Coulee does have a point, but it doesnt matter, Lewis has taken the opportunities which came his way, and in any sport, thats what its all about. Top teams and champions see their chance and they take it, Lewis is no different, he’s made the most of it. Just ask Fernando Alonso!

      2. Sorry @jaymenon10 and James Coulee, I immediately regretted that comment as soon as I posted it. I don’t wish to shut down an conversation at all, I guess it was that yesterdays round up this was discussed at length.

        For what it’s worth, I would definitely rate Senna higher than Hamilton, but Hamilton in my (perhaps biased) opinion should definitely be up there with the greats… I’ve been watching him since 2006 and I have a lot of memories of him not having a race winning car and still doing well (2009 and 2013 spring to mind), but perhaps the statistics only hint at how we should view drivers anyway. For example, Gilles Villeneuve most of us could probably agree is one of the F1 greats, but he doesn’t exactly match up to Schumacher in the stats department!

        One final thing I would say, is that in Senna’s era, the overall standard of driver (average) was not as high as it is today, meaning Senna’s supreme fitness and concentration would stand out much more back then than it would in the class of 2017. I think that should be considered with these judgements (i.e. it’s all relative).

        Thanks for holding me to account!

        1. @john-h I don’t think you can claim that Hamilton didn’t have a race winning car in 09 and 13, given that he won races in both of those seasons. He’s never been in a car which wasn’t at least competitive at points in the season. He’s never had to endure the sort of dreadful seasons the likes of Alonso and Button had to go through. Ironically both because of the general lousiness of Honda.

          1. For most of 2009 and 2013 these were not race winning cars.

            He could have stayed at McLaren in 2012 and gone through those dreadful seasons 2013 onwards, but he saw what Mercedes were doing with regards the 2014 regs and went for the move. I do understand the point you are making though, its fair enough… he’s never had a complete dog other than the start of 2009.

          2. @john-h It’s an important point though. While he hasn’t been able to fight for a championship with every car, he’s always been towards the front of the grid and has never had to deal with facing a whole year of scrabbling around in the midfield looking for points. I remember early on in his career, while admittedly a portion of the British press seemed to really have it in for him, he made some comment about backmarkers and described them as “the monkeys at the back..”. I do think that having had such a privileged career where he’s always had good equipment at his disposal, he’s perhaps ended up with an inflated sense of how much his talent really bring to the overall performance package. His recent comments about IndyCar seem to suggest that he still looks down on drivers who don’t have frontrunning cars in F1.

            I think it’s probably understandable that drivers don’t have the same perspective on the sport as the outside observer. Both because they are completely consumed with their own career and performance, and also because to an extent, they have to believe in their hearts that they are an incredibly special talent.

            Actually to an extent, in that respect I think he does himself a disservice. I would say that in terms of raw talent (in my opinion) he is easily a match for Senna, but that he is competing against a field of much better drivers on average than those Senna drove against.

            If you could take Senna at his prime and race him against Hamilton as he is right now (I believe he is currently as good as he has ever been) then I’d say that if both hooked it up as well as they could then Hamilton would likely come out on top. But over the course of a season I would say that Senna would be more consistent.

            What really marks them out as different, in my opinion, is that drivers in Senna’s day were forging their own path. Hamilton and his peers seem always to be compared to the greats who came before, and that diminishes their talent in the eyes of the fan.

          3. As I summed it up the other day on this topic, I don’t dwell too much on trying to compare the cars they had nor the stats, although they do play a role.

            For me it simply boils down to something less tangible, less statistically cold. For me Senna had a mystique about him that was enthralling. Such a deep philosophical thinker. Such a strong personality. Such a genius behind the wheel. These are things that I personally have never felt even one bit from LH.

            In terms of the cars they’ve had, I have struggled to consider any WDC’s under the previous format to this one as being great achievements. Trundling along as passengers monitoring systems does not give me the feeling that these drivers have been performing great feats. Waiting for a drs zone to make a pass on tires that do not allow them to push themselves or their cars on tracks more forgiving than ever. The drivers themselves pushing for more challenge out of boredom.

            LH has great numbers, sure. So did MS and I have little respect for the way they were achieved. But LH a true Great? In numbers only, for me anyway. He has compiled great numbers.

            This year is the start of a better era I have no doubt.

        2. “I have a lot of memories of him not having a race winning car and still doing well (2009 and 2013 spring to mind)..”

          I’m not sure what you think “not a race winning car” means. Rosberg also won in that 2013 Mercedes – in fact he won more races than Hamilton in it – so clearly it was a race winning car. In fact in LH’s career there has been only one season when he won races and his teammate failed to do so. That was the 2009 season when his teammate was the very poor Kovalainen, who McLaren replaced at the end of the year.

          1. “I’m not sure what you think “not a race winning car” means. Rosberg also won in that 2013 Mercedes – in fact he won more races than Hamilton in it – so clearly it was a race winning car. In fact in LH’s career there has been only one season when he won races and his teammate failed to do so. That was the 2009 season when his teammate was the very poor Kovalainen, who McLaren replaced at the end of the year.”
            Isn’t that kinda oversimplifying it? In 2013 Rosberg won Monaco where Merc was the best car and Great Britain where Merc was the best car with Hamilton behind the wheel. Rosberg inherited the win because both Ham and Vettel had mechanical problems. In Hungary however, Lotus and Red Bull were clearly faster than Mercedes. Hamilton was able to get pole and hold on. Just because Mercedes was a race winning car during the 2013 season doesn’t mean it was the car to beat in all those races.
            In 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, the Bulls and the Browns were faster than Mclaren. Hamilton took pole and held on(Vettel was literally glued to him for laps and so was Rosberg). I would count that as winning races without a race winning car.

          2. Isn’t that kinda oversimplifying it?

            Well, no. The 2013 Mercedes was a ‘race-winning’ by the only definition which makes any sense – it won races. And both Mercedes drivers, Hamilton and Rosberg, won races in it, so you can’t say it was a dog of a car which only won thanks to LH’s mad driving skillz.

            Just because Mercedes was a race winning car during the 2013 season doesn’t mean it was the car to beat in all those races.

            Strawman mixed with red-herring. Nobody said it was “the car to beat”.

            In 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, the Bulls and the Browns were faster than Mclaren. Hamilton took pole

            Taking pole would seem to mean that the McLaren was faster. That’s the way these things are generally reckoned. That’s especially the case when the car on pole gets there seven-tenths of second quicker than the next faster car, which was the case at Singapore 2009.

          3. Let’s just say it’s all about the cars and Senna and Hamilton are essentially passengers that lucked into them. How does that sound?

    2. Also Hamilton had a good car since the beginning of his career in F1. It’s important to notice too that Prost was a better driver than Rosberg. And most of the people didn’t judge Senna for his career stats only, it’s because he had some miraculous moments in his career and he did things that most of them at that time though was impossible.

      1. Forgetting the complete dogs of cars that McLaren supplied him 2010 – 2012, and the dog of the Mercedes 2013 car of course …

        1. FreddyVictor
          15th June 2017, 10:08

          eh ?
          in 2010 races CHN, TUR & CAN, they had a 1/2 finishes plus they also won at BEL & AUS
          so really can’t be “complete dogs of cars” !

        2. FreddyVictor
          15th June 2017, 11:13

          further checking:
          JB came 2nd in the 2011 WDC
          and in 2012, the team won 7 races

          I suppose compared to the Mercedes dominance in recent years, they can be said to be “complete dogs of cars”

        3. Those “complete dogs” (the 2010-12 Mclarens and 2013 Mercedes) all won multiple races in the hands of Hamilton’s teammates. Which would seem to undermine the notion that the cars were “complete dogs” which Lewis carried to victory via his driving-god type skills.

          2010 – LH won three times, JB twice
          2011 – LH won twice, JB three times
          2012 – LH won four times, JB twice
          2013 – LH won once, NR twice.

          1. Michael Brown (@)
            15th June 2017, 17:07

            @Fireblade Hamiltonian won three times in 2011: China, Germany, and Abu Dhabi.

          2. @mbr-9, that doesn’t change the point I made, if anything it reinforces it. Those cars were clearly competitive ones and not “complete dogs” which Hamilton somehow dragged to the front, as was claimed.

          3. But Button got 3 in 2012

        4. @franton you are calling championship contenders, multiple race winning cars, dogs. JB and Rosberg won with the cars you mentioned. 09 was the worst car Ham drove. I wonder what has Alonso been driving for the past 4 seasons, snails?

    3. Fukobayashi (@)
      15th June 2017, 9:45

      He also put himself in a position to be in those cars through displaying TALENT. As @jaymenon10 said, just ask Fernando!

      1. richard cantelo (@)
        15th June 2017, 9:46

        Spot on.

        1. It comes across as a bit desperate bringing up Lewis having not driven in any bad cars for a whole season.

          Should he join a backmarker team for a season? I mean, what is the point of this?

          1. @paul-guitar Of course not. But people seem to use it as a pro-Hamilton argument, when he has been privileged compared to basically all.

      2. “He also put himself in a position to be in those cars through displaying TALENT. As @jaymenon10 said, just ask Fernando!”

        I don’t understand what you are saying here. Fernando has certainly displayed talent, has he not? And yet he has not had cars as good as Hamilton’s during his career.

        1. You can’t have a good car if you walk away from it.

    4. races almost twice as many races per season than Senna

      That isn’t even close to true though. On average Hamilton’s seasons have been something like 3 races more. That’s not even 20% more. And he was only 2 years younger than Senna when he started.

  3. If reports of the McLaren/Honda split prove true, what will this mean for Sauber? Will Honda actually stay in F1 to supply only Sauber?

    Wouldn’t Sauber be better off with the 2017 Ferrari engine in 2018 rather than hoping Honda somehow performs a miracle? Or, is there an economic benefit for Sauber to go with Honda even if there is limited reliability or performance from the engine?

    Will Honda try to recruit another team to supply? Can’t imagine any interest on that idea.

    1. @bullmello Honda have poured so much money into this project, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they want to stay to try to see it through, rather than lose all credibility completely.

      However, with Sauber, and only 10 teams in the championship (guaranteed prize money), there will be little pressure and less spotlight on Honda in comparison to being with McLaren, Alonso, Button, etc. Sauber have a lot less to lose (nothing, in fact, at this stage). It’s possible that Honda may agree to help Sauber financially too, as they did with McLaren.

      1. @strontium – Good points

        Worst case scenario – Supply only Sauber for 2018 with no better engine than this year. Leads to a disgraceful exit from F1 after a massive waste of time and money.

        Best case scenario – Honda supplies Sauber, has a miraculous turnaround in performance and reliability that leads to Sauber moving up in the Constructor’s Championship. Other teams want Honda to supply them.

        I would prefer the best case, but it seems unrealistic. It would be a great story for F1 though. Sad to say the likelihood of the worst case happening is more probable if Honda does stay in F1. Even if they did marginally better than 2017, it would still be less than successful.

        1. Much has been said about the Japanese corporate culture not being fit to F1s fast pace and hence why they’re hurting McLaren. Well, at least in Sky and through their pundits’ published opinions.

          But maybe McLaren’s instability has also hurt Honda’s workflow. In the last two years was crazy infighting and a power grab.

          I think some German Swiss-ness is going to be good for the people back at Sakura.

          1. The McLaren upheaval was probably not beneficial to the whole situation.

            The cultural thing does keep coming up from certain pundits. I tend to think the real problem is an engineering one more that anything else. Would love to see Honda and Sauber help each other.

      2. The Dolphins
        15th June 2017, 1:49

        There were rumors at the Canadian GP of some investors looking to enter a new F1 team, will be interesting to see if: a) it happens & Sauber have to compete for 10th, b) who supplies their engines, maybe it will be Honda and we will see some interesting battles at the back of the pack.

    2. @bullmello The news of Mclaren dumping Honda will be music to Monisha’s ears. Depending on the “severance” terms and providing Honda are willing to stay in F1, it would effectively mean that Sauber will become the defacto Honda works team, which for Sauber, will be a perfect scenario.

      Sauber are scraping the barrel as it is, the extra money from Honda will be very much welcome, it will effectively allow them to develop their cars and team for a change. Its safe to say that Sauber and Mclaren have very different goals, perhaps this may effectively help Honda develop at a pace that they are comfortable with? Honda has not responded well to the intense pressure and media scrutiny so far.

      Further to this, I think Sauber can afford to play the long game. Regardless of what happens, they will be in a better financial position if they tie up with Honda.

      1. @jaymenon10 – It could very well be a lifeline for Sauber. And Honda *could* actually build a decent power plant. It could happen. They certainly will want it to happen if they stay since they really do have something to prove.

        1. And Honda *could* actually build a decent power plant

          For the sake of more competitive F1 teams, I sincerely hope Toyota win Le Mans! Hopefully that will spur Honda on…haha

        2. At least with Sauber grid drop penalties will be less painful.

          1. They even can use Saber as a replacement for their unreliable Dyno.

    3. If McLaren drop Honda, I think there is a big upside to this for Sauber and only a small downside.

      Option 1 : Without McLaren, Honda pull out. Result : Honda have to pay Sauber a significant amount of money for breaking the contract and the FIA force either Ferrari, Renault or Merc to supply Sauber. This supply is then effectively subsidised by Honda.

      Option 2 : Honda stay in F1 but with reduced revenue, the development of the engine is slower than it might have been had McLaren stayed. I feel like Honda will get on top of their problems by the end of the year. It still won’t be a top engine, but it might be much closer and may even get close to matching the 2017 Ferrari one which will be a year old by then. I bet Sauber are paying less for the Honda engine than they would for a year old Ferrari one. As an added bonus, they will become the #1 priority for Honda and receive all of the support.

      Option 3 : Honda stays and puts all effort into making the engine better so that they attract more customers. Honda can’t afford to look bad and so far their F1 program has made them look bad. So far, this program has probably cost them $50-100M (My guess??) and in the boardroom, the question will be asked. “Did we just spend $50-100M to trash our brand and good name in F1?” The upside for Sauber is that they get full Honda support and cheaper engines. Plus Honda must get on top of their problems soon(ish).

      I personally think that the true case will be somewhere between option 2 and 3. The loss of McLaren is sure to hurt Honda’s finances so the shortfall in budget is sure to hit the engine department. However, after 3 years, a lot of the hard work has been done so that shortfall may not hurt as much as it would have last year. Sauber may just luck into a great situation. The engine gets reliable and more powerful and Sauber get to be a manufacturer backed team without selling out. If I was Monisha, I would be rubbing my hands together right now. The only downside for her is if Honda pull out late in the year and then car development will be stunted.

      1. @mickharrold You may want to multiply those costs to Honda by 5 at least. Frankly, I would be surprised if they haven’t already spent half a billion dollars on this project over the life of this project so far.

      2. Honda are apparently paying Mclaren $100m a year though, so if Mclaren drop Honda, Honda won’t lose revenue, they’ll gain $100m a year.

      3. Can I add another option to my list? Let’s assume for a second that Honda deliver an engine that is not too far off the others and is reliable. It’s possible they will do that.
        So all of a sudden, they might be a target for Red Bull in 2019. If the engine is OK and RB can become a “Works Team”, it might be an option. Renault are only going to get better with their factory team and that place RB on the outer. If Honda get their act together, they may be worth a punt. It’s certainly a lower risk, higher reward bet than the one McLaren made when jumping ship to Honda 3 years ago. RB could pump funds and knowledge in to help Honda get where they need to be.
        Probably not going to happen, but I would be surprised if RB weren’t thinking about it. It all hinges on Honda delivering an engine next year that is in the ballpark and more importantly, reliable.

  4. A great name for Force India could be Audi or Alfa Romeo. And then, if he is forced to do so, Mallya could slip quietly back to India without having to worry about it :)

    1. I heard a rumour a few weeks ago that Brabham name might come back don’t know if it is true or not. Come to think of I might have dreamt that news too.

      1. @jamiejay995 That is an interesting possibility. If the asking price wasn’t too high, it is certainly possible.

    2. @strontium I’m sure that if FI was for sale there would be plenty of interested buyers, but I don’t think that is what they want. Maybe they will put the name for sale, like football clubs do with their stadiums

      Brabham is a good guess in my opinion as said by @jamiejay995

      Since they are established now, and in Silverstone, they could try to find one of these brands that make specific type of cars to sponsor them and change the name. Something like BAC, Ariel, Caterham, Gumpert, maybe Pagani even (while this one I find difficult due to their location). I think this brands could do with the exposure, and FI are certainly performing on a level that would make the investment worthwhile.

      1. Ah, Pagani….
        Wouldn’t that be the coolest?

        But I’m guessing the re-branding won’t involve a car maker.

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          15th June 2017, 17:10

          @praxis I third Pagani! The Zonda is amazing.

      2. @johnmilk @jamiejay995 @praxis I’ve always loved the idea of Pagani having a presence in F1, and their ties with Mercedes engines would actually make that perfect. I’d bet they’d have a fantastic livery too.

        I’d understood Brabham were only interested in having an actual team, rather than just naming rights, but of course I could be very wrong. Just another thought, Sahara owns about 42.5% of the team, so it’s possible that they could just call it Sahara F1 Team.

        However, the idea of selling the name interests me. It would most likely end up as the Emirates / Etihad F1 Team.

        1. I would keep the pink! It easily marketable and people do talk about it.

          Sean Bull had a try at a pagani F1 team: http://www.racedepartment.com/attachments/pagani-jpg.191613/ (meh)

        1. @davidnotcoulthard I thought about that, but I’m quite sure they won’t go that route ahah

          1. @johnmilk Why not, that’s exactly what they’d done previously :p

          2. @davidnotcoulthard If that happens, Tiago Monteiro has a seat reserved for him

            I wonder if Force India can change the name mid-season. I know spyker did

  5. Force Pink

  6. Great. What Vindication? Failed to score points 6 races in a row.. Then scores two.

    Williams are just doing PR, just like McLaren, in reality they are woefully underperforming.

    Look at SFI meanwhile, same baseline budget, same engine, much inferior history, yet totally different results. Not suprising they have two best drivers they can find.

    Williams have a first grade retirement driver and underdeveloped pay driver.

    How can they compete?

    1. Fukobayashi (@)
      15th June 2017, 9:50

      Agree. The story is being romanticised because it was a Canadian driver scoring his first points at the Canadian GP but one look at the on boards show a clear lack of fine grain car control. The guy was sawing at the wheel nonstop and used the fact that Sainz wiped out 3 strong midfield contenders (including himself) plus plenty of straight line advantage to score a pretty measly 2 points. So many better drivers deserve to be in F1 right now.

    2. I disagree. Like it or not he has the seat. He earned his super liscence and Williams hired him and yes along with him comes money from his Dad. That is money that goes toward bettering the team. FM would benefit from that too. And how many points does FM have? A whopping 20. All that experience and the best this car has in it for him is 20 points so far.

      So let’s say you get your wish and someone else has the seat. Someone who won’t ‘waste it.’ If they bring money then I guess that’s a strike against them right off the bat. If they don’t bring money the team is worse off financially and likely the car is worse as well. So how much better is whomever you would have in that seat going to do? 10 points? Half of FM’s? More than FM? How many more? Realistically.

      LH can be nowhere in Monaco, and VB and LH both can struggle with heat issues with the tires, in what people now as of Montreal are back to saying is a dominant car, but 18 year old Lance, new to F1, is expected to immediately come into the now harder F1, and…not be given more than 7 races….or what…off with his head?

      Lance will have the time to show what he has. He may or may not have what it takes. It will be difficult because he is in a car that even a seasoned veteran engrained on the team has little to show for his efforts. But at a bare minimum some fans are giving him a ridiculous timeframe to simply snap his fingers and perform. Fans that can only speculate from their armchairs that whoever they can imagine being in that seat would do so much better. In their minds. While Lance toils away actually putting his all into this, perhaps doing as well as any rookie in that seat.

      Issues of Williams taking a driver for their money, or of an F1 that has teams struggling such that they need drivers with money, need be directed not at the Strolls but with Williams and F1.

  7. Not sure if drivers have to wait 30 years to be seen as ‘greats’; didn’t happen to Schumacher/others.
    Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense that those survey are only done amongst 40yo’s.

    My thesis is more like: active drivers have many more ‘haters’ which reduces their average rating (HAM, MSC, even SEN), which largely evaporates after they retire.
    Maybe I should do my PhD research around this.

    1. @f1-liners

      I think that is a very good point and may well be the case. Anyone who is sincerely doubting Hamilton’s place amongst the greats by now must either:

      1: Have some kind of personal issue with him.

      2: Not fully understand the sport.

      Perhaps we will get a more balanced perspective a few years after he has retired?

      1. Well I think there’s shades of grey to that. I don’t doubt that LH will be ranked amongst the greats. The numbers will dictate that. And yeah for sure we all like this athlete or that one in all sports for various reasons, and sometimes they don’t have to do with their performance in their sport. I personally don’t like LH’s personality, but I have little issue with his driving performance, but nor has he enthralled me, and that may simply be because I haven’t been able to buy into LH the person.

        In terms of not understanding the sport I’ll repeat what I have said before. I find that LH almost threw away his first WDC ie. hardly stamped his authority on it whereas it was FM that did all he possibly could when the pressure was at it’s greatest. And I find that thanks to the way BE shaped F1 up until this year, the cars did not lend themselves to great feats. And that’s when he won his last two WDC’s. I respect that what he has achieved and what he still will achieve will go down in the history books forever, and good on him. He’s just not been for me.

  8. Pink Panthers surely?

  9. Changing its name will be good for business…am sure

  10. I love how someone at SkySportsF1 thinks that Mike Gascoigne saying “it looks like the decision has been made” turns into a headline that reads “McLaren decision on Honda made”…

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      15th June 2017, 8:45

      Really winds me up actually. Sensationalist news to get a few more clicks. I also can’t abide the way their reporters ask rude and unnecessary comments to drivers or team personnel to try and make drama out of everything.

  11. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    15th June 2017, 8:41

    Just reading an article about how Liberty don’t want to reduce race fees but do want to enhance the events to full week long festivals etc etc. One thing that would dramatically improve the British Grand Prix for me would be more support races. In the 90s I’ve seen BTCC, British GT, Classic F1 and a million and one other weird and wonderful series supporting the F1, I even have a vague recollection of the Thursday’s being full of support events. Then around the early 00’s the support events all stopped and it turned into the default ‘Brand F1’ Porsche’s, GP3, GP2, F1 and nothing else. I’ve been to a few races abroad as well and they just had the same. At the end of the day the main reason we go as motorsport fans is to see motorsport, so more would be nice.

  12. Say what you want about Eddie Jordan, but he’s pretty damn good at his predictions. It’s even more impressive considering that paddock people try to lightly discredit him whenever he’s put something out there.

    1. He’s awful at his predictions! He’s hit a couple times and missed the rest. You’d have better results by flipping a coin!

      1. Fukobayashi (@)
        15th June 2017, 9:52

        He called Fernando to McLaren literally months and months before it happened and when everyone laughed at the idea of Ron and Fernando being in the same room together…

        Saying that he’s still the most annoying geezer on earth and I want him off my TV forever!

        1. @offdutyrockstar

          He said that Massa was ‘totally fine’ after the accident that nearly killed him in 2009.

          1. Fukobayashi (@)
            15th June 2017, 10:24

            @paulguitar i’m not saying he’s always correct, far from it. Just giving one example when he did make an accurate prediction, that’s all.

          2. Always amazed that my broken watch displays the correct time twice a day ;)

    2. I just polished my crystal ball.

      Ron Dennis building a new team. Needed some more time to arrange things, Manor option came to early.
      Cosworth building engine for new team and other interested party’s.
      Starting with Dallara for first year, after that own factory.
      2 Big investors/sponsors available.

      Putting crystal ball under cloth.

      1. @offdutyrockstar

        Yes, understood. He was right about Lewis going to Merc too, if I remember correctly.

  13. richard cantelo (@)
    15th June 2017, 9:45

    Force be not with you!

    1. I think you meant MALLYA FORCE BE WITH YOU

      1. Ooooh good one.

  14. I agree is about time to change Force India’s name, i remember a few years back that Jonnie walker were considering taking over the team due to the loan owed to them by Mallya.

    I think that will be the case now, Johnnie Walker Blue label F1 Team

  15. Team Pepto Bismal

  16. Lets go back to their old Jordan Grand Prix name. :)

  17. It seems that many people consider the average level of the field today higher than during the Senna era. Let’s have a look to those competing against Ayrton:
    Several greats wdc like Prost, Piquet Sr., Mansell, Lauda, Rosberg Sr.
    Great drivers like Alboreto, Arnoux, Laffite and good ones like Patrese, Berger, Alesi, Boutsen
    The young M. Schumacher and the future wdc D. Hill
    And others able to win outside of F1.
    We must consider differences: tracks in no Tilke era were more difficult and there was more variety (Estoril, Le Castellet, Jacarepagua, old Hockenheim, Imola…)
    No aid for drivers, less data, no semiauto gearbox (until Ferrari ’89), less reliability, so a mistake easily led to a retire and the drivers in that era were more able to do a real difference.
    Today they are really near each other so it’s not so easy to understand who is a great driver and who is not. Probably they are more involved on the technical side, surely they have a better fitness program, but are the Hulk or Perez better than Berger? I don’t think so.

  18. Stroll got P9 and they’re treating it like a win. Quite embarassing really, the whole team having a photo for P9 when Massa has scored higher this season.

    1. Yeah Massa has a whopping 20 points. I think they likely treat any points they get as a win these days, so why wouldn’t they celebrate 18 year old LS’s first? They’re not embarrassed to be competing in F1 and getting points, not at all.

      1. Massa has also been the lightning rod of bad luck this season, extra stops in Russia and Spain through no fault of his own and punted out in Canada. When he has run cleanly he’s been best of the rest, bar China, so the fact Stroll has one paltry top ten finish is embarrassing.

  19. Michael Brown (@)
    15th June 2017, 17:12

    I think Force India is a badass team name. Now all they need is to go back to the white, orange, and green colour scheme.

  20. When I first read about it, I was sure I expected this happening sooner or later. However as I reflect back into the history, this team really stood out from other me-too names that were suggested in the comments here – like Brabham, Alfa Romeo or Aston Martin.

    Force India literally calls out it is an Indian team and something that Indians generally were proud off – till army of Mallya haters got really angry. With his absence from India and how Media is going all guns blaring abusing his name, many of those show the hate up front. Some of those will be loving this team and feeling proud, but will hesitate to acknowledge it because it is Vijay Mallya’s asset.

    Say whatever, ForceIndia is a successful project for Vijay Mallya that beer brand namesake Kingfisher airlines was not. Both are different entities and are only connected commercially via Advertisement contracts. Owned by the same group of people still.

  21. So will it be Brabham or Project 1 Racing? ….

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